Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected Saturday the international condemnation of the transformation of the hagia Sophia of Istanbul into a mosque, arguing that it fell within the “sovereign rights” of his country. “Those that do are stumbling against islamophobia in their own countries (…) attack the will of the Turkey to use its sovereign rights “, said Erdogan during a ceremony in the visio-conference.
“We have taken this decision not on what others say but in relation to our rights, as we have done in Syria, Libya and elsewhere,” he added.
